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Show 52 MR. R. TRIMEN ON BUTTERFLIES FROM [Jan. 16, ii. p. 103, is distinct from L. otacilia, mihi; and, though darker than Hewitson's figure of the male, may prove on comparison with Hewitson's specimens to belong to the same species. The examples in the Hewitson Collection bore the localities of Sierra Leone and Angola. The two males in Mr. Selous's collection were taken at Umtali and in the Mineni Valley, respectively, on the 28th February and 7th March. Genus DEUDORIX, Hewits. 90. DEUDORIX ANTALUS (Plopff.)1. Dipsas antalus, Hopff. Monatsb. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berl. 1855, p. 641. n. 15. Two specimens from Christmas Pass and two from the Mineni Valley. 1 Mr. A. E. Hunt, lately of Durban and now of Newcastle, Natal, has reared this Butterfly from larvae found in the seed-pods of Crotalaria capensis at Pinetown and near Durban, and has sent me descriptions and drawings of the larva and pupa, from which the following diagnoses are framed. Larva.-Above greenisb grey, spotted with black (in some specimens a tinge of purplish) ; first and second thoracic segments chrome-yellow, the first bearing a median black mark like a broad arrow reversed, the second with two transverse rows of three black spots each ; a transverse row of five black spots on the third thoracic segment and on each of the six following abdominal segments ; spiracles black ; head black; underside and legs dull yellowish. Last three abdominal segments obliquely flattened and sloping posteriorly, hollowed and wrinkled superiorly. Entire upper surface densely set with short black bristles ; also a lateral edging of short white hairs. Length 7^ lines. Pupa.-Thorax and wing-covers dark glossy blackish brown ; abdomen dull reddish yellow thickly sprinkled with black atoms, and with a narrow dorsal median stripe of black ; head reddish yellow above, shining black beneath, witli a fringe of fine white hairs along the front. Entire upper surface sprinkled with very short white hairs; under surface smooth and glossy. Humped dorsally, being markedly constricted at junction of thorax and abdomen ; flattened inferiorly. Attached by the tail and by a silken girth. It will be seen that the early stages much resemble those of a near congener, L). isocrates (Fabr.), common in India and Ceylon, the larva of winch has long been celebrated for its singular habit not only of feeding in the interior of pomegranate and other fruits but also of finding its way out shortly before the change to pupa and "spinning a strong web over the basal portion of the fruit and over some considerable length of the attaching stem, so that should the fruit be separated from the stem it will not fall to the ground " (de Niceville, Indian Museum Notes, vol. i. no. 4, p. 194, 1890 ; and Butt. India, iii. p. 478, 1890). But the larva of D. antalus does not appear to share the very remarkable habit in question (first brought to notice by the late Prof. Westwood as loDg ago as 1835), as Mr. Hunt notes nothing of the kind. He writes, however, that the first pupa found was attached to the inside of a pod of Crotalaria which had a round hole at the tip, while the larvas subsequentlv found by him were in pods without holes, and in every case left the pod after it had once been opened. He believes the latter course to be traceable to the pod's twisting as it dried and so squeezing the larva. One or two full-grown larva? which were placed in a pod ate their way out and fastened themselves under the nest of a mason-wasp that was in the same box. The pupal state, in June and July, lasted from 18 to 21 days. Mr. Hunt adds that the pupa, on being touched or disturbed, gives a very distinct squeak, although he could not trace any movement of the insect accompanying it. |
